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Charlie Blood
Charlie Blood is a name shared by (at least) three serial killers who were active at some point in the history of Fillmore, Colorado. Karl de Burgh Karl de Burgh was a World War I veteran who suffered "shellshock" (now known as post-traumatic stress disorder.) He spent three years, from 1919-1922, at the Fillmore Asylum for the Deranged and Malformed before being declared "fit to serve in society" and released. He worked at a bookstore, where he met Delia Forsythe, a young piano enginue. De Burgh became infatuated with Forsythe, sending her letters declaring his intention to marry her, despite her already being engaged to a man named Lorne Collins. Collins and Forsythe were to be married on June 19th, 1926, but never made it to the chapel. They were later found to be murdered and left mutilated in Withering Creek, which at the time was an undeveloped woodland on the edge of town. Patches of flesh were stripped roughly from their abdomens, faces and private parts, and both their left thumbs were removed. Over the next three years, De Burgh continued to kill in a similar way, later writing in his diary that it was "the only thing that made sense, to end lives before the world can," and referring to his murdering of Forsythe and Collins as "like a sunrise in the head." De Burgh took a further six victims between 1927 and 1930, mostly young couples. He was almost caught once, disposing of the body of a man named Jacob Cornell in the creek, but he escaped without being identified. Later victims were found elsewhere in the Grey River area. De Burgh was finally identified when a patch of flesh fromn one of his victims was discovered pressed in the pages of a book sold at his store. He was tried and sentenced to death in 1931. During coverage of his trial, he was dubbed "Charlie Blood" by the Fillmore Messenger. The discovery that the horrific murderers were conducted by a bookseller led to a longstanding "war against literacy" in Fillmore. Greg Provost Between 1978 and 1980, Greg Provost, a graduate student from Caulfield committed a series of five murders. While the case was being investigated, Provost was dubbed "Charlie Blood II" or "Charlie Blood Jr.," despite Provost committing his crimes with a gun, rather than a knife as in the original Charlie Blood case. Provost claimed he had been bestowed a "Devil's Eye" that instructed him who was to be killed, and that he was only killing "rogue angels in human form," all of whom were young women between the ages of 17 and 21. Provost was killed in prison in 1989. "Charlie Blood III" From 1992 until 1995, a third series of killings occurred that more closely emulated the original Charlie Blood killings. The perpetrator has never been positively identified. Charlie Blood III is believed to have been responsible for at least nine killings during this time. Category:Legends Category:Fillmore residents Category:Fillmore history Category:Caulfield residents